News Release

U.S. Department of Labor For Immediate Release

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration Date: April 16, 2002
San Francisco Contact: Tino Serrano
Release Number: 65 Phone: (415) 975-4742

Retirement Funds Restored to South Bay Workers

Labor Department Settles with Sunnyvale Electronics Manufacturer

SAN FRANCISCO – A South Bay business owner and his Sunnyvale company have agreed to restore
$75,000 to the company’s profit sharing plan. Under the terms of a consent decree, entered by the U.S.
District Court in San Jose April 15, William Michael Weist and Abacus Electronics Company, Inc. will
repay $75,000 to the profit sharing plan.

The consent decree settles allegations by the Labor Department that Weist breached his fiduciary
responsibilities by imprudently investing the plan’s assets and failing to make an employer
contribution to the plan in a timely manner. The Labor Department alleged that Weist invested up to
93% of the plan’s assets in extremely high-risk stocks of single technology companies on several
occasions over a five-year period, which resulted in significant losses to the plan.

Approximately 25 current and former employees of Abacus, which produces electronic components,
participate in the company’s plan. The judgment specifies that the funds Weist and Abacus repay must
be distributed to the other plan members, and they must not benefit Weist.

“The Department of Labor has zero tolerance for plan fiduciaries who take extreme risks with
employees’ retirement funds by imprudently investing them in speculative tech stocks,” said Bette
Briggs, regional director for the Pension and Welfare Benefit Administration in San Francisco, which
investigated the case.

As part of the agreement, Weist will be permanently barred from exercising discretionary investment
authority for any employee benefit plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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Civil Action No. 02-01293 JF, Elaine L. Chao v. Abacus Electronics Co., Inc., et al.

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